Coping with Psychological Challenges: Guidance for MSc Students

1. Psychologicalchallenges facing MSc students This powerpoint has been designed to offer advice and guidance to MSc students. The format of the Workshop may be slightly different to this powerpoint. Adam Sandelson LSE Student Counselling Service

2. Aims • To look at common challenges involved in starting at a university • To examine practical activities for dealing with the stress of transition • To review stress management skills • To be aware of sources of advice

3. Common challenges involved in starting at a university Academic Social Settling in tips Part 1

4. Settling in: The Academic side Adjusting to a new level of study Adjusting to self-directed learning Trying to keep previous standards Adjusting reading strategies Presentations, essays and exams The tutor relationship Sustained pressure during a 1 year course

5. Academic challenges • Feeling overwhelmed with material • Adapting to a new style of learning • Needing time to develop an independent critical voice • Anxiety can lead to procrastination • We may disguise avoidance by being very busy • We may find things to do that are interesting or even useful, but don't contribute towards the main goal

6. Settling in - the Social Side • Talking to strangers • Making contacts through shared activities • Keeping contact with people from home • Meeting people from similar and different backgrounds • Getting a balance from work and leisure. • Being realistic about what to expect • Giving yourself time to adjust • Looking after yourself - food and sleep

7. The challenge of transition • Loss of the familiar – home, friends, family, places, routine • What about feeling homesick? Coping with loss, after initial excitement subsides • Encountering disappointment, depression and anxiety • Meeting new people, relationships • Academic challenges

8. Can be part of the natural grieving reaction associated with change Is extremely common Most common in first few days or weeks after arriving Can occur at the time of leaving home, but also later, such as after Christmas break. Feeling Homesick

9. distance from home sense of anticlimax high initial expectations work overload and low control over it contrast in lifestyle time needed to adapt to changed culture, language and lifestyle Homesickness may be associated with

10. Why did you choose to study at LSE What are your initial impressions Academic Social Cultural Initial impressions

11. Talk to someone. Make contacts and friends through shared activities such as societies and clubs. Keep contact with people from home, but also give yourself time to begin to get involved here Remember that many others will be feeling the same Remember that you are also allowed to enjoy yourself - it isn't being disloyal to those you miss! Settling in Tips - I

12. Settling in Tips - II • Be realistic about what to expect from student life and from yourself. Try to balance work and leisure. • Give yourself time to adjust: you don't have to get everything right straight away. • Remember to get enough food and sleep • Most people come through times of homesickness and go on to do well and enjoy their time at university. • If work is difficult, look at your study skills and time management (see Teaching and Learning Centre)

13. Speak to your tutor Look for advice and help: Student Services Centre Study Skills Advisors in TLC Student Union Medical Centre Mental Health and Wellbeing Advisor. Don't wait until problems have grown impossibly large! Settling in Tips - III

14. The context for studying What are you really doing here? Part 2

15. Common student difficulties Ambivalence about leaving home and family Cultural isolation Settling down in a new peer group Dilemmas about relationships and identity Financial difficulties Ambivalent relationship to study Feeling under pressure to do everything right

16. Trying to please others Wanting to be the best Being a perfectionist The family / historic context for your success, eg keeping the family together Setting yourself impossible targets Re-enacting anxiety, trauma, failure … Underlying dynamics

17. Dynamics of study, work, life ...

18. Under Pressure? What pressures are you under as an MSc student coming to LSE From others From yourself Are these pressures realistic or excessive?

19. What are the practical ways of dealing with future challenges? Part 3

20. Classes, essays and exams Work and Money Planning your future life Sustaining momentum Getting support Future challenges

21. Practical approaches • Revise study skills • see LSE Learning World Website • Assess time management skills • Set realistic and achievable goals • Plan short term targets and longer term strategies • Recognise short term achievements • Talk to others, ask for help and support

22. Getting things done Concentrate on the task, not the outcome

23. Getting things done Concentrate on the task, not the outcome

24. Focussing on the task • Break down huge activities into small manageable tasks • Remember your past successes • Recognise you are likely to pass • Be methodical, and allow time for breaks and space to breathe and think • Use mind maps, scribble ideas • Go for a walk, talk out loud

25. Review your Stress Management Skills Part 4

26. Stress Management Skills • Physical, behavioural, cognitive • Regularly switch off with some kind of physical activity • Good self care – sleep, diet, caffeine, alcohol and nicotine • Allow yourself time out without guilt • Acknowledge anxiety, rather than denying it. • Ask if your negative thoughts are realistic

28. Challenging negative thoughts • Apply ‘Socratic reasoning’ or imagine this being tested in a Court of Law • Identify the negative thought • Eg, I can’t do this Course • Ascertain the evidence For and Against • Ask if you are making a ‘thinking error’ • Propose a more reasonable alternative thought

29. Thinking errors • Discounting the positive • Tunnel Vision • only seeing the negative side of things • Overgeneralizing • because it happened in the past it will happen again in the future • All or nothing thinking • Believing a catastrophe will happen • Emotional Reasoning • If I feel it then it must be true

30. What sources of advice and help are available? Part 5

31. Sources of advice and help Academic Adviser Disability Office Departmental Staff Student Services Centre TLC study skills advisors Learning World Student Union and Advice Centre Medical Centre Mental Health and Wellbeing Advisor Deans Don't wait until problems have grown impossibly large It’s OK to ask for help earlier

32. LSE Student Counselling Service – KSW.507 • Free and confidential • Mainly short term counselling • Book appointments in advance • Urgent appointments (phone early in the day) • See Website for • Stress management handouts • Self help resources on a wide range of student issues (study – related and personal difficulties) • Relaxation MP3’s

33. Forthcoming Groups • Stress Management Group (3 weeks), Thursday 11 – 1, 17 November • Self Esteem Group (3 weeks) Monday 11 – 1, 14 November • MSc therapy group • PhD therapy group Places on all groups need to be booked in advance. Please see the website, Call Ext 3627, visit KSW.507 or email student.counselling@lse.ac.uk.

34. Final thoughts • Transition can be stressful, but also allows us to grow as a person • Imagine looking back in 5 years • Talk